Focusing on technology will not help you unleash the full potential of Store Lifecycle Management (SLM) and Integrated Workplace Management (IWMS) solutions. You need to understand how to strategically apply technology, in order to quickly achieve operational improvements and ROI. This only comes with experience and a fundamental understanding of the underlying business. Implementing IWMS and SLM systems definitely comes with challenges, and the key to success is knowing exactly what you’re getting into and planning accordingly so that expectations meet reality. We’ve implemented SLM and IWMS solutions for over 100 brands globally, and pretty much seen it all. Drawing on our experience, we’d like to share The 8 Tips of SLM & IWMS Implementations.
By taking the experience and lessons learned from more than 100 SLM and IWMS implementations, and identifying the top eight tips that have consistently helped our clients and collective project teams, we assist you in avoiding some major bumps and bruises along the way. This is an abridged version of a white paper we recently published. In the full white paper, we provide a detailed discussion of each tip – so be sure to download the white paper for in-depth IWMS best practices.
ONE. Demoware vs. Out-of-the-Box Functionality
There is an industry around making demos as slick as movies, but they are not necessarily a true representation of what you’ll get. A demo should paint a picture of what the world could be like if you license and implement the vendor’s software – but is not a representation of how the software operates OOB.
TWO. Lack of Change Management Changes Everything
What started off full of energy and momentum with promises of a better future– has ended up with an organization that can’t seem to transition to the new way of doing things. Half of the users are stuck in the past and half are attempting to forge a new path forward. One of our favorite sayings holds true here. If something doesn’t change, nothing changes.
THREE. IT Staffing for SaaS and Hosted Solutions
The trend over the last five years is definitely toward externally hosted and managed solutions, even in our niche industry. The problem is that companies believe implementing a SaaS or externally hosted and managed solution doesn’t require IT department resources. This myth is wrong and a recipe for disaster.
FOUR. Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail
There’s no such thing as a cookie-cutter SLM / IWMS implementation — no matter how hard software vendors try to convince you otherwise. Each implementation and client is different and what is needed for one might not be needed for the other, even if the scope is the same.
FIVE. The Process to Reach High Impact Benefits
While what often sells is the promise of the hard to achieve, utopian benefits, there is a process you need to follow. That process takes time and patience. Realizing the power of Store Lifecycle Management or IWMS solutions is no different.
SIX. The Right Approach and Team Means Everything
Two months into an SLM / IWMS implementation, it dawns on you – your implementation partner doesn’t know the first thing about reconciling Common Area Maintenance. While they seem to know the technology, they lack an understanding of your business.
SEVEN. The Reality of Out-of-the-Box Implementations
We cringe anytime we hear the term out-of-the-box (OOB), because in the more than one hundred implementations we’ve done, it has never been true – or at least, completely true. With very few exceptions, OOB functionality is a myth.
EIGHT. The End is Really the Beginning
Often, companies are too quick to usher the consultants out the door and not see the value in an extended period of post-implementation support. But most are not prepared for what happens in the days and weeks after go-live, and even fewer have the in-house capabilities to support the volume of questions, change requests and on-going training needs that most companies require.
Download the white paper below for a full discussion and analysis.
